Saturday, December 18, 2004

Responses

Good post. Your view of Oprah acting like some Matriarch handing manna to the plebian crowd reminded me of a comedy act I saw years ago. Remember the show Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous? This comedian said he hated that show and did a Robin Leach impression that went like this (cue annoying British accent).
"I'm Robin Leach, showing you things you can't afford, making you feel like the lowest of the low. Look at this beautiful Bel Air home! It's something you'll never have!"
It was funnier in the act I assure you.
Oh, and one other thing about teachers. Given all you said, keep in mind they work, what...8 months out of the year? I don't have two weeks vacation at X-mas, a week off for Spring Break or the whole summer off. I figure my school teacher cousin making $38K a year is doing better than I am working year round but I don't want to get started.
Cheers

ally--
i can understand why you feel the way you do about the oprah show you saw. here are my thoughts; random order!
#1: i'll bet that most of these companies are DELIGHTED to give their stuff to the oprah show - the publicity is much better than most ads they could run. just one more way to hawk their stuff.
#2: people go NUTS over free stuff! you should see bridge players after the evening session of play, when they usually have some sort of food. you'd think that these people had gone WEEKS without sustenance..... they take WAY more than they ought to unless there are food guards preventing them from nabbing FIVE pieces of pizza a person... they'd mow someone else down to get a free hot dog. (and mind you - most of these people are quite well off.) i don't get it - but it happens!
#3: i think that there is a part of oprah where, no matter HOW incredibly successful and wealthy she becomes, she still kinda goes "oh wow" over what she is able to do financially. remember - she came from very, very modest beginnings..... and so i think there is this part of her being where she still can't believe that she CAN virtually get any trinket and toy that she wants.
i don't like this about her show, either - and i cannot STAND the ones where she kinda slobbers over other celebrities.
for the most part, however, oprah really is a hero to me. she escaped poverty & racism and did about 3 million things that most people thought were absolutely impossible to do. she's an incredibly successful image for blacks, women - and FAT people that you are really only constricted by your own imagination.
i agree with you that these are faults...but, these are my thoughts about 'em!
peg